Most disposable diapers now being marketed are prefolded in various ways as a convenience to the user in providing a better fit when the diaper is applied to the child. These folds are generally designed to minimize leakage at the inner thigh area as well as to provide a centrally depending pocket to more effectively contain excrement. Exemplary of one such style is the diaper described in Hrubecky U.S. Pat. No. 3,196,874 of July 27, 1965 in which multiple diagonally disposed infolds and outfolds provide a prefolded diaper of generally triangular shape which is contoured to provide a centrally disposed depending pocket and leg-hugging side edges. While this prefolded diaper serves its intended purpose well, attempts have been made to provide a diaper with somewhat similar contour but with less complicated folds in order to simplify fabrication.
A simplified diaper structure of this type is described in Eckert et al. U.S. Pat. 3,774,610 of Nov. 27, 1973. In that diaper, the pair of diagonal outfolds on each side of the diaper is eliminated, and the centrally disposed pocket is maintained by adhesively attaching facing surface portions of the triangular pocket panels to each other. This diaper also functions well in use, but as set forth in the patent, it is necessary for the user to manually turn down the side edges of the diaper when applying it to the child in order to provide the desired snug fit at the thighs.
The present invention is directed to a structure which utilizes the simpler fold similar to that described in Eckert et al but in addition provides an improved adhesive attachment means for the pocket panels. The improved attachment means is placed on the inner contacting faces of the folded pocket in such a manner that when the diaper is opened up preparatory to placing the child on it, the attachment means will operate to automatically flare out the side edges of the diaper into a position which will assure that these side edges will press against the thighs as the diaper is fastened to the child without requiring extra manipulation of the side edges as set forth in the prior art.
The above features and other advantages of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawings.